The virtue of booking direct

OTA = Online Travel Agency, which means those sites that sell the booking and take the payment for you.
Quiterio
Posts: 78
Joined: Wed Dec 30, 2015 8:20 pm
Location: Cadiz Province, Spain
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The virtue of booking direct

Post by Quiterio »

I thought I would share this circumstance with you.

We had an enquiry for a week in August, with a number of queries which we successfully resolved, sent the enquirer our usual booking form, and then waited for payment.

Next day we received a 'Reservation Request' for the same period. We felt honour bound to give our original enquirer a couple of days to get back to us, and refused the reservation request, explaining that there was another booking pending for the same period.

Then we received an email from our original enquirer saying that we had refused her partner's reservation request. Of course we had no idea that he was her partner.

So we had then had to advise that, if her partner cared to send another reservation request, we would accept it this time. As there was no action for a couple of days, we thought we'd lost the booking - then finally we received a second request.

Things were so much simpler in the past!
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Robin S
Posts: 190
Joined: Tue Jan 20, 2015 9:24 pm
Location: The Cotswolds
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Post by Robin S »

I've had people book direct with us who started on listing sites but they've always called out the fact they want to book direct because:

a) it's cheaper
b) they have more confidence booking direct than via OD especially
c) they found abb too painful to get authorised

Interesting shift mimicking another recent post saying direct enquiries are on the rise...
Bree
Posts: 69
Joined: Sun Mar 09, 2014 9:27 pm
Location: Carvoeiro, Algarve

Post by Bree »

Do you know you can send the guest the "reservation request" you don't have to wait for them to send you one.
I think in cases like this where they want to book it looks more professional, you can always cancel it if they change their mind just a thought!
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